Magick
"Magick can be defined as manipulating the basics of reality itself. It's not unlike science. You create a fireball by exerting your willpower over the atoms above your hand, heating them and controlling them until a fireball is born. Then you throw it and it explodes when you release your grip- it's simple as that. At least that's how I've come to view it." = What is Magick? Magick is a Mage's best friend and strongest tool. It's usable in thousands of ways and millions of situations, and the chance of the practitioner running out of Mana is almost impossible unless in dire circumstances. 'Magick' is used to refer to the art of manipulating, controlling and mastering the art of shaping reality to your will. 'Mana' is the term used to describe one's capability to contain Magickal Energies within one's body and use it to control reality. 'Faith' is the amount of certainty the Mage has in their ability to shape reality, and is therefore instrumental in the success of any and all spells. A Mage without faith in Magick, without faith in their ability to do Magick, will be absolutely powerless. 'WIllpower' is the amount of mental strength that a Mage possesses. In the same way that faith powers Magick, willpower is the determination to imprint their will on reality. A Mage with no willpower will find their spells weak and lacking even if they have faith. 'Desire' is the Mage's intense need to imprint their power upon reality, giving their Magick even further strength. While desire is not required, it makes spells much, much more powerful. Desire takes precedence over faith and willpower in the usage of Rituals which differ from 'Quick Magick'- the best type of 'desire' to use is actually sexual desire due to the raw, untamed nature of it. On top of that, it's easily one of the most powerful forms of desire a human has. Magick requires many things to succeed. It requires a Mage to have faith that it will work and that they can do it. It requires a Mage to have the determination to make reality their own. It requires ample Mana and it requires knowledge. Having Mana isn't enough to suddenly become an adept Mage- you need practice. On top of this, if you have no desire to perform or learn Magick, Magick will not be available for you to learn. What is Mana? Mana is described as 'the measurement of the Mage's capacity to absorb Magickal energies and utilize them'. When a Mage awakens their Magehood, their body begins siphoning energy from the world around them and storing said energy in the body. A Mage absorbs Mana from the world around them, but when they have a sufficient store of their own they can generate their own Mana inside their body. Essentially, a Mage eventually becomes a Magickal Being in a way while still maintaining their humanity- for all intents and purposes, however, a Mage is now a Magickal Energy wellspring. When activating their Magick, the Mage enters a state known as 'Magick Mode' in which their eyes begin to glow brightly and their vision becomes slightly distorted. The world becomes black and white but a little brighter to compensate, and a single colour sticks out to them depending on the shade of their aura. If a person has a red aura for example, the world will be black and white except for red things. On top of that, their spells, sigils and the results of said spells will also be in perfect colour- this allows them to distinguist between spells and non-spells, and also not fall into their own illusions by accident. The Magick Shield The staple of any good Mage, the Magick Shield is an invisible second skin sitting just above the Mage's own actual skin. It acts as a durable shield that depends on their Mana stat, and taking damage on the shield will prevent damage to the Mage's actual body until their Mana runs out. This is a very, very dangerous situation to be in. A Mage's Mana level is tied to their level of stamina, so running out of Mana will also most likely cause the Mage to pass out; and if not, there are two alternate outcomes. The first outcome is that the Mage retains consciousness but becomes vulnerable and weak like your average everyday human until they can regain their Mana. However, it takes approximately five minutes for a Rank C Mage to regain even a single bit of Mana. Luckily, that one little bit of Mana instigates the speedier regeneration of further Mana inside the Mage, allowing them to recover. Furthermore, recovery is even faster if the Mage is calm, meditating or resting their body. Physical exertion will prevent the Mage from recovering properly and may also damage their ability to retain Mana. It's not uncommon to see retired Mages 'leaking' Mana from their bodies. This effectively spells an end for a Mage's career as it becomes incredibly hard to keep their Mana level in check and may lead to lasting health issues. The second possibility is the Mage's Mana intake suddenly skyrocketing, allowing them to rip Mana from the surrounding area and absorb it faster than their usual intake rate allows. While doing this the Mage is a truly terrifying threat to behold as their Magick Shield will constantly regenerate even massive blows. Their Mana capacity may even expand to encompass the new massive power surge. This allows them to wield Magick with near impunity. They don't suddenly get stronger or more adept in the Magickal Arts, but their almost-infinite supply of Mana makes them a force to be reckoned with. However, this comes at a dire cost- the Mage may overload with Mana and turn into a human Mana Crystal, or if they don't absorb too much Mana for their body to handle, they may be left in horrible condition. Below is a list of things that can occur; + The Mage may enter a coma- awakening is not guaranteed. + The Mage may destroy their Mana reserves and weaken or outright destroy their capacity to use Magick. + As Mana is tied to the Mage's physical and mental stamina, the Mage may simply die on the spot from the immense strain put on their body. It's guaranteed the Mage will pop at least one blood vessel while using this 'Emergency Attack Mode'. + On top of this, the Mage may seriously damage their body in any number of ways, ranging from torn muscles in their entire arm to their brain suffering severe damage and impairing their motor functions. The immense strain put on the Mage's body in this 'Emergency Attack Mode' allows the Mage to operate for approximately ten minutes before the side-effects kick in. However, Mages are urged to run and recover instead of using this 'technique' as the chance of dying from use is incredibly high and the reasons to use it are practically nonexistent. However, proper usage of the Magick Shield provides the Mage a way to stay relatively safe in combat as long as they're cautious. The Magick Shield does, however, have some weaknesses. Stilettos are quite capable of piercing Magick Shields and puncturing the Mage's body due to the small area of the force of impact allowing it to neatly crush that area of the shield and push through- think of the Magick Shield as wearing a form-fitting invisible piece of metal armour. On top of that, the Magick Shield can't save you from being crushed by massive things and will also not protect you from hard falls of excessive height- the landing will still snap your bones, but the Shield will provide some protection against falls. Just don't toss yourself off a cliff. Types of Magick Elemental Magick + Fire Magick + Ice Magick + Wind Magick + Earth Magick + Water Magick + Storm Magick Light Magick Holy Magick + Exorcism Arts + Bounding Fields Divine Magick + WIP Dark Magick + Curses are pure Magickal rituals that take many forms. They're primarily used to debilitate or inflict harm upon the targets, but aren't considered to be overtly 'evil'. Cursing someone to lose money, cursing someone with bad luck, cursing someone with impotence- those are all valid uses of a curse. + Hexes are different to curses in their usage. A Hex is a much, much more malicious Magick that can be used to inflict even death upon the target. A common spell amongst Necromancers is the 'Hex of Death' which, depending on the Necromancer's strength and different factors influencing the target, may outright kill the target instantly if the Hex is strong enough. People with no Magick resistance or specific protection will almost always be killed regardless of their proficiency as a Mage. This is what makes practitioners of Dark Magick so scary. However, to take life requires a sacrifice which usually takes the form of a Hex user paying with years of their own life being stolen from them. This starts a vicious cycle of the rogue Mage finding ways to keep away from death while maintaining their power. + Voodoo is different in that it requires a physical object to represent the target. + Necromancy + Blood Magick Destruction Magick + Magick that is something above mere elemental Magick, considered the most powerful of all offensive Magicks barring the Hex of Death- this kind of Magick is capable of leveling entire cities with ease in the hands of an adept Mage. A Mage sporting Destruction Magick is a terrifying sight indeed, and according to the Mirage Orchestra's 'Guidelines on Acceptable Magick Use in the Magickal Community' a Mage who is able to use Destruction Magick and is skilled in the Art is, by Magus Law, required to wear a Magick Seal at all times. Demonic Magick + Lust Magick + Sin Magick + Pain Magick + Demonic Pacts Physical Magick + Physical Enhancement + Burst Movement + Weapon Enhancements + Barriers Mental Magick + Illusions + Emotion Reading + Emotion Instigation + Emotion Absorption + Sound-based Magick + Memory Manipulation + Perception Manipulation + Mind Control + Psychic Duels and the Mindscape Healing Magick + Regeneration + Overhealing + Mental Healing Summoning Magick + Demon Summoning + Servant or Familiar Summoning + Object Summoning + Channeling Special Abilities + WIP Boundaries + Boundaries are a forbidden type of Magick used only by Mages who possess incredible willpower and determination to imprint their vision on reality. Requiring an immense amount of Mana and Magickal skills, a Boundary is essentially a Mage's very own pocket dimension that takes over a portion of the dimension we call 'the Human World' and splits off from it. The world inside the Boundary is completely at the whims of the creator of the Boundary. They can reverse gravity, change the environment to their liking, change day to night and night to day, generate anything their mind can think up. Inside a Boundary, a Mage is absolutely infallible aside from still being able to die. A Boundary does not affect those inside it- it's merely a Mage creating a battlefield much more advantageous to themselves. For example, a Mage using a Boundary can turn gravity on its side and allow themselves to run up the side of a building, but they cannot immediately kill another Mage just because they're inside the Boundary. The Boundary is, essentially, a Mage's perfect Killing Grounds. However, the upkeep for a Boundary is immense, meaning only the strongest and most skilled Mages can even attempt to create a Boundary. On top of this, the Boundary has a defined size, meaning that any Mage caught inside the Boundary only has to flee a certain area before finding themselves back in the normal world. However, escape would be difficult as the Boundary will be actively going against the Mage/s caught inside. When escaping a Boundary, one will exit from the same place they were dragged inside. Another weakness that Boundary has is that a Mage inside a Boundary can create their own Boundary, thus creating a stalemate between the two Boundaries. It's only been done in practice, but it is possible to either cancel out a Boundary or create a rare 'Boundary-Combat' scenario. Runes and Focus Points Runes have existed since before recorded history and their ability to influence, strength and change Magick can never be underestimated. Runes and the words that accompany them give a Mage extra focus points to further boost their Magick's power. Focus Points boost a Mage's concentration and the willpower factor in their spellcasting, thus strengthening their spells and allowing them to be cast much easier. However, Runes aren't applicable to each and every type of spell. Difficult Magicks such as Healing Magick or Summoning Magicks require mantras to be repeated to maintain focus and facilitate the success of said Magicks. Runes are mainly used for quickly firing off spells, mainly elemental, and also giving 'sound to thought'- throwing your willpower and your faith out through your words makes it easier to imprint on reality than keeping them inside your head, and thus a more powerful Magick will be cast. Quick and easy is the name of the game with Runes. The majority of Mages use the Elder Futhark Runes- however the type is irrelevant as it's less the Rune itself and what it represents that matters. With that in mind, it's not uncommon to find a powerful Demon with their very own brand of Runes. On top of that, some long-lived and well-read Mages will be somewhat versed in the Old Runes, a type of Rune from a time beyond human recording. However, the texts with these Runes have recently vanished and haven't been found yet. These Runes boost the power of Magick immensely, beyond the limits of human capability. No wonder they're kept far away from prying eyes. Other focus points include a hand motion, an incantation, mentally visualizing the outcome of your Magick and the use of a catalyst. Catalysts Ritual Magick vs 'Quick' Magick Mist 'Marks' and the infusing of Mana Magick Seals